Pole or wall mounted telecommunications terminal housings that incorporate a front panel that slides straight down to provide access to the termination area inside the housing are commercially available from Communications Technology Corporation of Dallas, Tex., under the registered trademark "POLECAT."
The sliding door provides access during installation to the sides of the housing for inserting or terminating service wires in terminal blocks inside the terminal housing. However, a shortcoming to such a sliding door is that when it slides down, maintenance performed from a ladder leaning against the pole or wall supporting the housing is more difficult, and, indeed, unnecessarily difficult when such maintenance does not require access to the sides of the housing.